The problem
The deposition of thin film is used to give a bulk material particular surface properties by the deposition of a thin layer of source material upon it. One of the most common techniques of thin film deposition is PVD(Physical Vapour Deposition). It has an efficiency of 10-20% thus a high percentage of source material is deposited on the chamber walls of the deposition facilities, forming production waste. Generally, deposited material is precious metal like gold, platinum, silver or palladium; therefore, wastes have high value. Moreover, the recovery processes of this waste are very expensive or require big quantities of material (kg or tons) to be feasible or profitable. Besides, the facility’s maintenance involves long downtime and dangerous activities. As a consequence, a lot of precious material goes lost.